Foreign Minister Steinmeier on the 70th anniversary of the atom bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the nuclear bombs which were dropped on Hiroshima (6 August 1945) and Nagasaki (9 August 1945), Federal Foreign Minister Steinmeier issued the following statement in Berlin on 5 August 2015:

The dropping of the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 70 years ago constitutes one of the darkest chapters in the history of mankind. The immeasurable suffering that the deployment of these terrible weapons of mass destruction caused is and remains a warning to us all and imposes on us a responsibility to continue doing everything we can to work for a world free from nuclear weapons.

The path towards accomplishing this is filled with obstacles. Nevertheless, successes such as the Vienna agreement in the nuclear dispute with Iran show us that solutions are possible even in the most difficult situations, and that the effort is entirely worth it. The German Government will continue to work with its partners to make concrete progress in the field of nuclear disarmament.

Background information:

The nuclear bombs which were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 caused more than 200,000 deaths – many were killed immediately, others died in the years to follow as a result of the injuries they sustained.

For many years, the German Government has worked to achieve concrete progress in nuclear disarmament, both vis‑à‑vis nuclear-weapon states and in international disarmament forums. Alongside the Non‑Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) of 1996 is the most important instrument in curbing and preventing the development of nuclear weapons. Achieving a world free from nuclear weapons remains the express goal of the German Government.